File: South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa, U.S. President Donald Trump, U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik speak to journalists in the Oval Office at the White House on May 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. Relations
In this series, we take a closer look at the countries that are taking part in the G20.
JOHANNESBURG - The United States of America (USA) has been a leader in the global community for some time now, and the G20 is just one of the areas where it holds prominent leadership status. This is after having been one of the founding members of the G20 in 1999.
Following Brazil’s Presidency of the G20 in 2024 and South Africa’s in 2025, the US is due to hold the next G20 presidency in 2026. This places an even greater significance on the country’s participation than its already established leadership status.
Economics
According to the World Bank, the US boasted an economy that was worth $29.18 trillion in 2024, making it the largest economy in the world. This is a trend that the US has observed for several years now, with an annual growth rate of over 2.8%.
One of the largest contributing sectors in their economy is the Finance, insurance, real estate, rental, and leasing industry, which contributes over 21.3% to the country’s GDP in the first quarter of 2025. This is followed by the Professional and Business Services industry, which accounts for 13.3%, and then, finally, the government sector comes in third with an 11.4% contribution to the GDP. Finally, the current unemployment rate in the US is 4.2%, as of July 2025, which is a relatively excellent rate, ranking the US 10th in the world.
The US in the G20
Following the 2007/2008 financial crisis, where the global market effectively crashed, and trade partner countries lost mounds of their trade volumes when the US central banks defaulted on their financial obligations, there was a need for the global community to diversify the global financial architecture so that no one country could be responsible for the financial catastrophe experienced in 2007/2008.
This made the US a key player in the discussions on the geopolitical and financial architecture of the G20. Previous US Administrations have become vocal and instrumental players in advancing agendas such as Climate Change, Food Security, and substantial economic reforms. The US has become a critical stakeholder and expert voice in the institutions that govern the multilateral system of trade & governance.
However, with the advent of the Trump presidency, there has been considerable debate surrounding the Administration’s impact on the global financial architecture of the multilateral system. The US also withdrew from several international agreements, such as the Paris Agreement and the World Health Organization (WHO), citing concerns about their effect on the US economy. This caused upheavals and uncertainties about the stability of the multilateral system. Concerns were raised about the impact on such initiatives as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN, and if this would encourage other members to also reevaluate their contributions to the global community, such as participation in the G20.
US Leader attending the G20 Leaders’ Summit
Deputy President J.D. Vance will represent the US after President Donald Trump indicated that he would not be attending.
5 Fun Facts about the US
· Alaska, a state in the US, is the largest state in the US. However, it is larger than you would think, because it is 5 times larger than the next largest state, Texas.
· The US has never declared an official language at the federal level, which is where all its national laws are ratified. This is despite English being the most used language, even in official communication such as legal documentation and the Constitution.
· You would never guess that 60% of the world’s cranberries come from just one country, the US. However, even more fascinating is that they come from exactly one state, Wisconsin.
· In the official adoption of the Great Seal in 1782, there was a proposal to set the seal as the bald eagle. However, Benjamin Franklin wrote to his daughter that he thought the turkey was “a much more respectable bird”.
· The very first man to land on the moon, in 1969, was American astronaut Neil Armstrong, and so was the very first flag to be planted on the moon.
- Smangaliso Mkhuma